In the field of ceramics, it is generally known that fine particles are more reactive than coarse particles, owing to their high surface energy. It is also known that the sintering rate is roughly proportional to the inverse of the particle size. It is also well known that the strength of sintered materials is directly related to the final grain size and porosity which in turn are closely related to the particle size of the starting material. The behavior of precipitated zinc sulfide during hot pressing is in accord with these general observations. Fine particle size precipitated zinc sulfide can be hot-pressed into specimens which have very good visual and infrared transmittance.
Coarse particle size precipitated zinc sulfide, when hot-pressed showed little or no grain growth, was unacceptably opaque in the visible to near visible spectral regions and had infrared transmissions and densities well below theoretical values.
Zinc sulfide is normally hot-pressed at temperatures between 810.degree. and 900.degree. C. depending on the particle size of the material. Coarse particle size ZnS generally requires higher temperatures than fine particle size ZnS. At the higher temperatures there is generally an increase in the amount of hexagonal ZnS present in the predominantly cubic ZnS matrix which causes scattering of radiation and undesirable opacity in the visible to near visible regions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,025 discloses a method for producing a visible and infrared transparent zinc sulfide article by hot-pressing a zinc sulfide powder having a particle size of 5 microns or less.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,026 discloses a method for the purification of zinc sulfide powder which is particularly adaptable for hot pressing to produce transparent zinc sulfide articles. Impurities such as free sulfur, sulfate ions, and organic matter are removed from zinc sulfide powder by first air oxidizing the powder followed by treating with H.sub.2 S or H.sub.2.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,131,238 discloses a method for producing a polycrystalline zinc sulfide article by hot-pressing zinc sulfide powder of high purity having a particle size of not more than 5 microns. The high purity and small crystals give good results whereas larger crystals and lower purity give unsatisfactory results.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,483,028 discloses semiconductor materials such as zinc sulfide including impurities of alkali metal salt of Rb, Cs et al in concentrations of 100 to 10,000 atomic parts per million which have luminescent and photoconductive properties.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,651,584 discloses an x-ray fluorescent screen of zinc sulfide containing 20% alkali metal salt selected from the group which consists of CsI, CsBr, RbI, CsCl, RbBr, RbCl, KI, NaI.
Heretofore, it has been difficult to obtain zinc sulfide articles having acceptable optical properties when coarse particle size zinc sulfide powder is used.